AZA HOUSE

Domestic Temple

Status: Under construction.
Project Year: 2023 – today.
Location: Villaviciosa de Odón, Madrid, Spain.
Area: 560 m2.
Design: OOIIO Architecture.
Interior Design: OOIIO Architecture.
Team: Joaquín Millán Villamuelas, Federica Aridon Mamolar, Candela Bonilla Moreno, Daniele Marino, Ximena Zenteno Ladrón de Guevara.
Instalaciones: OOIIO Arquitectura.
Civil Engineer: Emilio Matas Rivero.
Safety & Health: Emilio Matas Rivero.
Client: Privado.
Builder: Pagoda Garden S.L.

In a generic context, a special house.

In a quiet residential area of one of those ever-expanding towns just 20 minutes from Madrid, a young couple decides to build the home where they will shape their life. The place is in Madrid, but it could be anywhere else in Spain… or the world. Curving streets lined with residential plots on both sides. On each plot stands a house surrounded by its garden, usually with a pool and hedges separating it from the neighbors. None of the houses rise above two stories; they resemble one another, with small details that “personalize” them—one with a slightly grayer stone plinth versus another that chose not to have one; pitched roofs covered in tiles versus those in slate.

Strict municipal regulations ultimately force all residents to live in very similar houses. If you add to that the fact that the local council can take years to grant a building permit to a family wanting to construct their home, the tedious and complicated process of building here makes it almost heroic to aim for a distinctive house without giving up. Even so, with perseverance and hard work, persistence pays off.

From the very beginning, the goal was to create a fully customized designer home for its future inhabitants. When the context offers little of interest to anchor the project, architecture turns inward, focusing on the piece itself—the built object. Together with the young family, the architects at OOIIO conceived a house as an abstract and symbolic entity: a private world filled with plays of light and shadow and meticulous attention to detail—AZA House.

Despite what its outwardly rich and expressive appearance might suggest, the program of the house is actually resolved through a pair of simple rectangular volumes stacked one on top of the other, organized around a central courtyard that fills the heart of the home with natural light and ventilation.

The ground floor is where daily family life unfolds. It invites enjoyment of the porches and intermediate outdoor spaces on pleasant days. It connects directly with the surrounding garden and is crossed by the central courtyard, ensuring natural light reaches every corner. The upper floor is dedicated to social life and leisure: a gathering lounge, outdoor terraces with a barbecue, and large pergolas designed to protect guests from the sun.

If anything defines the architecture of AZA House, it is precisely these thresholds—the interstitial spaces that simultaneously separate and connect interior and exterior. A set of simple architectural elements dresses the rectangular blocks that contain the house’s program: pergolas, porches, and colonnades—like the one accompanying the approach to the home—arranged with a dual purpose: to play with sunlight, creating a microclimate around the building, and at the same time to give the house a sense of representation and monumentality.

Through them, the house gains a façade, a colonnade, a sculptural exterior staircase… Casa AZA suddenly becomes a deconstructed domestic temple in which to venerate a family’s daily routine. These “temple fragments” are clad in white corrugated metal sheeting, reminiscent of the fluting of classical columns, making the house vibrate with the movement of the sun.

The interiors have been designed to ensure comfort and ease of everyday use. Warm materials and details, combined with more playful and fresh touches, reflect the personality of the couple who owns the house. Ceramic and wood are the main materials, combined in different ways to give each room its own identity, always carefully designed to provide both unique and practical solutions.

In the design process, key aspects for them were never forgotten: functionality, uniqueness, and care for their social life. They often invite friends to share this dream come true—their home. They did not want a house like everyone else’s, which is why they chose to create a personalized designer home that represents them: an open, monumental yet functional and comfortable house. A domestic temple, designed for a family that wants to enjoy life.

They did not want a house like everyone else’s, which is why they chose to create a personalized designer home that represents them: an open, monumental yet functional and comfortable house. A domestic temple, designed for a family that wants to enjoy life.